Skip to main content

TRL to contribute to new autonomous vehicle research programme

The UK’s Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) the, has announced it is part of a new US$17 million five-year research programme to develop fully autonomous cars. The programme, jointly funded by Jaguar Land Rover and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), will look at some key technologies and questions that need to be addressed before driverless cars can be allowed on the roads without jeopardising the safety of other road users, including cyclists and pedestrians. TRL is the on
October 23, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
RSSThe UK’s Transport Research Laboratory (491 TRL) the, has announced it is part of a new US$17 million five-year research programme to develop fully autonomous cars. The programme, jointly funded by 7998 Jaguar Land Rover and the 2220 Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), will look at some key technologies and questions that need to be addressed before driverless cars can be allowed on the roads without jeopardising the safety of other road users, including cyclists and pedestrians.

TRL is the only non-university research institute involved in the programme and will work alongside the University of Surrey, Warwick University and Imperial College London on a project to understand how distributed control systems and cloud computing can be integrated with vehicles. The project, which will be led by Dr Mehrdad Dianati from the University of Surrey, aims to design and validate a novel, Secure Cloud-based Distributed Control (SCDC) framework for connected and autonomous cars.

Alan Stevens, chief scientist at TRL commented; “The project will explore how increasingly automated and connected vehicles can operate safely and securely when connected to each other and, via the road infrastructure, to cloud-based resources. Ultimately the aim is to develop a secure framework that will enable the implementation of safe and robust semi-autonomous functions on future cars in the short term, and fully autonomous cars in the long term.”

Related Content

  • November 20, 2015
    Multi-tasking at the wheel a potentially fatal myth, finds IAM
    Expert psychologists have concluded that multi-tasking whilst driving is a myth – and the most dangerous of those driving multi-tasks is texting and talking on a mobile phone, according to a new report produced by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) and the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL). The research focuses on the dangers involved when drivers try and engage in more than one task, indicating this can have a ‘detrimental’ effect on the quality and accuracy of driving performance. The find
  • February 19, 2016
    UK smart mobility living lab launched in London
    UK transport consultancy, the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), has launched the UK Smart Mobility Living Lab @ Greenwich; a real-life environment where connected and automated vehicles (CAVs), services and processes can be safely developed, evaluated and integrated within the local community. Based in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, London and supported by UK government, the UK Smart Mobility Living Lab @ Greenwich helps organisations bring solutions to market faster by enabling them to be trialled a
  • March 5, 2015
    New roadmaps published on automated driving and urban freight
    The European Road Transport Research Advisory Council (ERTRAC) has officially released its latest research roadmaps on urban freight and automated driving. The roadmaps will contribute to the definition of research programmes involving cities, industry, retail and logistics service providers, supported by Horizon 2020, the European Framework Programme for Research and Innovation for 2014-2020. Jointly drafted by ERTRAC and ALICE (Alliance for Logistics Innovation through Collaboration in Europe), the urban
  • March 6, 2015
    Visionary UK strategy ‘needed to unblock benefits of new motoring technologies’
    The UK government Transport Select Committee has called for a Visionary UK strategy to maximise benefits of new motoring technology in its report, Motoring of the Future. The committee says new automotive technologies could unblock congested highways, deliver a step change in road safety and provide the basis for rapid industrial growth, but the Department for Transport (DfT) will need to develop a comprehensive strategy to maximise the benefits of new motoring technology, such as telematics and driverless